Gingerbread

An Intel processor in a smartphone? It’s more likely than you think. The company has been trying to cram its processors into mobile devices for some time now, with the first sightings at CES 2010, but its taken all this time for smartphones featuring Atom processors to make it to market. The first was the Lava Xolo X900, released in India back in May, then the Lenovo K800, with the Orange San Diego bringing up the rear. That’s what we’ll be taking a look at in this review; how does it stack up to ARM-based offerings? Keep reading to find out.

Sony released a scattershot of Xperia phones last year, and has decided to take a more measured approach this year, unveiling the NXT series at MWC 2012. That included the Xperia S and Xperia P, but today we’ll be reviewing the Xperia U, the smallest and cheapest of the three. That doesn’t mean it’s lacking in specs, though: a dual-core 1Ghz processor lies at the beating heart of the phone, and it’s staggering to think we’ve reached a point where a budget handset can include such a chip. How does it all stack up, though?

You remember those old westerns where the priest gets shot by the bad guy, but the bullet is dramatically stopped by the Bible he keeps in his breast pocket? We don't really have a parallel for that today, but if you carry around the RAMPAGE 6 from SDG Systems, you might have a similar experience. This 5.7-inch, ultra-ruggedized smartphone-tablet hybrid was recently announced, and is intended for soldiers, scientists or anyone whose important work might occasionally include being in a live minefield.

This morning T-Mobile has updated their support pages with another update to one of their most popular phones. After the Amaze 4G update was tipped this morning we are now seeing an update rolling out to the Samsung Galaxy S II for T-Mobile. Sadly we have some bad news though. The update is only an incremental update and is still Android 2.3 Gingerbread -- no Ice Cream Sandwich just yet.

Good news folks, the 5 people that still own the Motorola Cliq 2 on T-Mobile are finally getting an update for the aging handset. Apparently Motorola and T-Mobile have decided the phone deserves an update and are finally delivering the social phone Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Only this won't come over the air and users will have to manually install the update.

Around here, the beginning of the month means paying the power bill, lifting another page on our Hello Kitty wall calendar, and checking the official Android distribution numbers from Google. The period ending on May 1st is a little rosier, with the various versions of Ice Cream Sandwich totaling 4.9% of all active Android devices. That's more than double the previous increase, but it's still just shy of one out of every twenty Android phones or tablets.

I know what Canadians want after hearing that Samsung's Galaxy phones and tablets would be getting Ice Cream Sandwich updates soon - a big ol' helping of Gingerbread, courtesy of Motorola! All joking aside, Canada is getting a unique mid-range phone that was previously available only to Europeans: the Motorola MOTOLUXE. this 4-inch fashion phone won't set the world on fire, but it might make a decent mid-range unlocked pickup for those who want something a little better than entry-level.

One good update deserves another, but before you ask, no, it's not Ice Cream Sandwich. Motorola is sending out a test update for the DROID Bionic, and given their history that means that is should be getting a wide release within a month or so. Build 5.9.904 is regrettably still Android Gingerbread, but it brings along a few much-appreciated fixes. If you're not a member of Motorola's official support forum you won't be getting it (at least directly), but Verizon should be sending it out before too long.

A couple of months ago Samsung Infuse 4G owners were thrilled to find out that thet their phones were finally getting updated to Gingerbread, only to immediately be disappointed that it was put on hold from AT&T. According to a tipster, the update is finally back on, though you'll need to connect to Samsung's Kies desktop program in order to apply it. We can't confirm the tip, so if you've got an Infuse and you're hungry for some Gingerbread, download the driver and Kies program and see if you can pull down the update.

Pantech's first Android phone on AT&T launched almost a year ago, running 2.2 Froyo - which was already six months out of date at the time. Today Pantech introduced a Gingerbread update for the QWERTY phone, making several people who had probably given up hope of ever seeing a newer version of Android very happy. Well, moderately happy, anyway - it's not Ice Cream Sandwich after all. The standard bugfixes are present, along with a few new features.